Altered Universe S1 EP2: Fleet of Justice
by TheAngryMan
Summary: With the Covenant in the Animus Rim, can the TSAB work with the SMC to halt the Unstoppable Fleet of Particular Justice
1. Chapter 1

_Covenant in the Animus Rim. Having been tricked by infamous UNSC Admiral Preston .J. Cole, the Fleet of Particular Justice flees, accidentally falling into the interdimensional wormhole connecting galaxy-1 and galaxy-4. Now the TSAB has been put on the defensive, unable to fight against the Covenants brutal tactics. They requisition the help of the up and coming forces of the SMC to aid them in their fight._

XXX

Admiral Lindy had seen a great deal during her days with the TSAB. From the Jewel Seed incedent, to the Book of Darkness ordeal, to Jail Scaglietti's attempt at takeover, she had seen some of the worst that the universe could offer. Then the Covenant showed up.

At first, they hadn't even seemed to be remotely a threat. The Arc-en-ciel could eliminate their ships without trouble. It seemed like things were going to be pretty easy, despite the horrors the Covenant were known to have committed.

But like with Harvest, things got worse. The Covenant found a way to escape the magic weapons devastating power. By sending Seraphs and Corvettes through Slipspace, the Covenant got behind enemy ships, wiping them out before they could react.

Now, six planets burned under the Covenant's plasma beams, with another twelve falling. Worse, some of the best mages in the TSAB, two of the Three Aces, were on some of those falling planets. Their death would cause the already falling morale to plummet into the negatives.

So the TSAB did the only thing they could do, requested any and all assistance. That had now come in the form of the Space Marine Corps. While new to the Galactic stage, with only a few member planets, but a number of territories, they had been involved in a particularly bloody war against a great alien threat several months ago. The same threat the TSAB had chosen not to face, the Strogg.

Lindy had been chosen to work with the premiere special forces unit in order to extract the Three Aces from the surface of Raxdrin. Most of the Ranking members in the TSAB, including Lindy, were unsure of how the mission could possibly succeed. But that was why the squad that completed "impossible" missions was assigned to the task.

Said unit, the Rhino Squad, walked onto the _Arthra's _bridge.

XXX

Thel Vadamee was not in the best of moods. A few weeks prior, he had been leading a glorious attack on the heretics main naval base, and was close to victory. Then the "Republic" came.

In a bold attack, they decimated several of his cruisers, including an assault carrier, using only their fighters. Worse, their bombers had descended to the Planets surface and managed to destroy all of his cruisers assigned to glass the planet's capital city.

He had chosen to break off the attack, so that he may analyze this new enemy and find out how they were able to inflict such damage upon him. He discovered hat in addition to the Republic forces being led by a man famous for his flying skills, they also exploited a weakness in the CCS battlecruisers, firing at their energy projectors just prior to firing, causing a backlash of plasma into the ship, destroying it.

He then attacked again, only to be ambushed by none other that the humans cherished fleet admiral, the same one who achieved many victories against his forces, and that was believed dead after his final one. Even more ships fell, but he was able to destroy the admiral's escorts, and most of the fighters had already perished.

When he moved in for the kill, however, more ships arrived, bringing thousands of troops to the besieged planet. With the possibility of even more on the way, the Supreme Commander choose to break off and report this engagement to the high council, as this could potentially change the whole war to the humans favor.

Somehow, instead of ending up where they were supposed to go, the Fleet had ended up here, in a space unknown to the Covenant. There were also more humans, but they were different. They had powerful weapons that could decimate entire planets if used, showing their lack of honor, event the Covenant had the decency to engage the heretic filth on the ground before destroying them from space.

These new humans had a weakness, though. Since they were so specialized in heavy attacks, they lacked major small scale weapons, allowing their cruisers to be easily crippled by fighters. They also lacked the intelligence to delete their Nav data, so there entire existence was known to Thel.

Rtas Vadumee, Thel's trusted friend and Special Operations Commander, walked on to the bridge.

"Commander" Thel asked "What is the status of our forces?"

"We have burned another seven planets" he replied "But there are five still that resist our forces."

"Have we been able to contact the Hierarchs?"

"No, but our technicians have confirmed that there is nothing wrong with our equipment and that nothing is blocking the signal."

That troubled Thel. How could they not be getting through.

"Do we have any clues as to why we are unable to contact the Prophets?" Thel inquired.

Rtas hesitated for a moment, but then replied "There is one theory."

"What would that be"

"One of our pilots was able to intercept a small number of transmissions from the enemy. The made mention of "Wormholes" and "Other Galaxies". It is possible that we have somehow transversed such a rift and are in another space, apart from our own."

That was an interesting theory.

"When were these transmissions intercepted?" Thel asked.

"During the attack on the Humans naval world" Rtas responded.

Weeks ago. They had known this weeks ago. Even though it seemed impossible, this information should have been reported immediately. The proper punishment for holding back such evidence was death, but Thel knew that such things could happen, and they could still make use of it.

"Tell the pilot that he has my thanks for this, but never to withhold such information again. I cannot guarantee him further amnesty.

Rtas nodded and walked of the bridge.

XXX

Nanoha Takamachi looked over the edge of the trench line, seeing the waves of Covenant infantry and vehicles standing by, ready to attack at any time. Normally, she and Riot Force Six would have no trouble eliminating the various tanks and Repulsorcraft before her. Unfortunately, times were anything but normal.

As with everywhere else, the Covenant forces on this planet were quickly defeated, leaving small pockets of resistance behind. The commanders all thought it was going to be easy from there. They were wrong.

Attempts to catch the remaining force proved futile, as they tended to operate in locations that forced Mages to use limited power, or else cause massive damage. Things got worse when a Skirmisher patrol ambushed Fate, hitting her with several needle shots that put her in critical condition. Nanoha herself now sported a large plasma burn on her right cheek, made when a Zealot detonated a grenade in close proximity to her, preferring to die than be captured by its enemy. The single minded religious devotion these creatures showed was horrifying.

Then, before Fate could be shipped out for medical care, the Covenant struck back. Using a Corvette to slip in behind the TSAB ships and wipe them out, since they had no countermeasures against a ship at that range.

While they had fought for weeks on end, the Covenant was still there, and everyone was wounded and exhausted. The only ones left standing were Nanoha herself, and Teana. It was kind of ironic that Teana, who had considered herself worse off than the others at first, now was one of the most effective troops in the battle, using Cross Mirage's Blazer Mode to act as a counter sniper against the Covenant's Jackals.

But even Teana had not come away unscathed, the burn on her arm from a Focus rifle blast was a testament to that. The only reason that they were still fighting even in the bleakest hour was the civilians. Many of the planets inhabitants were dead. The few remaining survivors were behind the makeshift trench line that Riot Force Six had set up.

Nanoha and the others were the only thing in the way of the Covenant, as their ability to destroy cruisers, as well as the Covenant's wish to "Smite the Demons" with their blades, meant that the covenant were using only ground forces against them.

Nanoha prayed that some miracle would happen. That somehow the Covenant would be defeated by anyone!

Little did she know that her wish was about to come true.

XXX

**Well that took awhile, a combination of Midterms and videogames prevented me from getting work done. Thankfully I used the time to brush up on my Canon for both Quake and Nanoha.**

**Unfortunately, I realized I had to pulverize Riot Force Six in order for the Covenant to be a threat to them, so I apologize to Riot Force Six for the abuse they've suffered.**

**Now the stage is set for the SMC\TSAB joint attack, which will be awesome, but first I want to play Quake some more so I am sure I am writing in character for the Rhino members.**

**Also, I fell I should address the fact that the Anthra was supposed to be decommissioned around the time of Strikers. Even though in cannon it probably did end up scrap afterwards, I decided to pull a "Battlestar Galactica" here and say they brought it back to the frontline because they needed ships fast. Also I should make it clear that Riot Force Six destroyed nine Covenant ships prior to this chapter, so the TSAB isn't a force to laugh at, it's just the Covenant are exploiting weaknesses in their tech (IE no point defense weapons on cruisers).**

**On a not story note, I just purchased Medal of Honor: Airborne, and it was a fun romp, short but sweet, with a lot of replay value. I also wish to mark an achievement, I finally beat the original Half Life without cheating, and I can tell you that Nihilanth is a SoB. Even with full health and armor he kills you with a couple of hits ON EASY and has this annoying second attack that teleports you to a random location and forces you to find a portal back.**

**But I have triumphed and will now be finishing up another run through Opposing Force. Sorry if this puts updates to the side, but nostalgia is quite powerful.**

**Anyway, read and review. Hope everyone can find this, seeing as it will be a Quake/Nanoha crossover and the first episode was a CloneWars/Halo.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone. Guess whose back. Sorry for the long wait on updates, but my computer died a couple weeks back and I lost my muse for a bit. Thankfully, it's a snow day and I can't get to GameStop to pickup Killzone 3 and Bulletstorm until later and I decided to get to work on finishing this chapter.**

We now return to Altered Universe

Shipmaster Loka Varmee was the commander of the taskforce sent to annihilate one of the remaining Human worlds. His forces had quickly destroyed the enemy ships in orbit, exploiting their lack of point defense weapons, and quickly began landing. His efforts had been thwarted when the remaining humans used some immensely powerful weapons to destroy several of his cruisers that were glassing the planet.

Loka pulled back and decided to force the humans into a war of attrition, and once they were to exhausted to continue or dead, he would glass the planet.

It irked him nonetheless that he was the last commander to not complete his objectives, in addition to losing so many cruisers. The fleet had lost almost half their ships attacking Reach, and they had no reinforcements on the way.

"Shipmaster" one of the crewmembers said "A human ship has just entered the system!"

XXX

As the _Arthra _entered the system, a sudden explosion rocked the ship. They hadn't repaired the ship since it had escaped the original attack, and it had taken a clear beating.

A group of sixty Seraph's speed towards the wounded ship. Admiral Lindy held her breath. Just a the Seraphs entered their effective range, four SMC Destroyers warped in. The seraphs, caught off guard, immediately went evasive. The Destroyers released their compliment of fighters and the battle quickly became a high stakes dogfight.

Two CCS class Battlecruisers headed towards the fleet, with hundreds of Banshee interceptors. Two Destroyers moved to intercept.

The Banshees easily evaded the Destroyers, leaving the four ships to duke it out. As the Banshees closed in, an SMC Carrier jumped in front of them. It side lit up and revealed a massive drop pod bay.

XXX

Bitterman sat in his assigned pod, waiting for the attack to begin. He, along with Rhodes and Cortez were going in with the orbital troops. He was to eliminate an enemy command bunker behind their lines. Rhodes job was to eliminate AA guns that could wreak havoc on dropships once they were deployed. Cortez was going in with the main force to secure the mages.

"Attention all Orbital Insertion units" A voice came over the com "This is Colonel Price. This is the first combat action of the SMC Colonial Forces, and this mission will be our first test."

"You've all seen action before, and we have some regulars to help us, but don't think that this is going to be easy."

"Once were in, we will have to rely on whatever the TSAB set up before they got wiped out. If were lucky, some of them will still be around to help us."

The alarm rang, it was Showtime.

Hundreds of Orbital Insertion pods jetted out from the carrier, using their point defense lasers to destroy incoming banshees. They pressed forward, passing a CCS class Cruiser that had finished off the two Destroyers. It was grim to lose two full destroyers, but Bitterman didn't let it affect him.

The pods continued forward, and soon they faced the Covenant fleet, 3 CCS class, 1 Assault Carrier, and a Flagship. Heavy plasma fire tore through several pods, and the rest had to be continually on the evasive. By the time they entered the atmosphere of Raxdrin, there were only about 150 pods left.

XXX

Back with the SMC fleet, the CCS class ship had been destroyed, but the rest of the Covenant fleet was closing in. The SMC commander contacted Lindy

"What's the status on the Arc-en-ciel?" He inquired.

"It's operational, but just barely." She replied.

"Good. We've got one shot to wipe these Mothers out!"

The cruiser moved out of the _Arthra's _line of fire. The magic cannon fired, striking the Assault Carrier, and expanding out to encompass the other ships. The massive Space-Time distortion eradicated them all.

Cheers went up across the remaining ships.

"SIR!" One crewmember yelled "Scanners picked up four Corvette class vessels approaching from the other side of the planet."

The cheers stopped, and all eyes turned to the commander

"Send our fighters to intercept" He ordered "and get our dropships planetside immediately!"

XXX

The orbital insertion pods landed, their occupants scrambling out towards the designated rally point. Cortez was one of the first to touch down. Rifle in hand, he sprinted towards the makeshift trench line the TSAB had erected.

When he got there, Covenant had already engaged the last few defenders and were preparing to finish them off. He dispatched the Elites with a couple of shots and jumped into the trench.

"Are you alright?" He questioned the two defenders.

"I'm fine" The one with the more rifle looking weapon responded "Who are you?"

"Alejandro Cortez, Rhino squad Sharpshooter." He replied.

Just then, another soldier jumped into the trench. It was Colonel Price. He helped the other woman up. "Nanoha Takamachi, I presume"

Receiving an nod of conformation, he continued "I'm glad you're still alive, I lost five hundred men breaking atmosphere, so its good that something went according to plan."

"Why is the SMC here?" Nanoha asked.

"Unlike some people, we're willing to intervene in situations that don't directly involve us if it will save lives." He responded.

Looking out, Price saw the Covenant forces were launching a ground attack. He radioed his grenadier units.

"All Grenadiers, fire at will" He ordered

A barrage of M203 shots and other assorted explosives pounded the enemy lines, throwing them into disarray and allowing the SMC troops to get to the trench line.

Price then radioed his Second in command "Soap, what's the status on our sniper teams?"

"We're in position, but the Covenant is launching Phantoms to flank us."

Price then opened a com channel to all the ground forces

"Men, today we evac several important TSAB mages or die trying" He said "Let's make it the first one"

XXX

Bitterman's pod impacted the side of a building, deflecting off the surface and smashing through the street. So typical landing. Wasn't nearly as bad as his insertion on Stroggos.

Bitterman got out of the pod, chain gun ready. Seeing no immediate hostiles, he opened up his tactical display.

His objective was to take out the enemies command center in the city, then regroup with Rhodes, who was taking out the artillery and AA guns. They would then make a beeline for the rest of the SMC forces for extraction.

Now they were supposed to hold the planet, but the Commander had realized that that objective was impossible with multiple Covenant ships in the system and such heavy casualties. Bitterman did wonder why him and Rhodes were still tackling their objectives, but he reasoned that they could still deprive the enemy of valuable commanders, the artillery was still targeting the trench the rest of the troops had holed up in, and the AA guns could take out their evac birds.

He saw his objective was 2 blocks away, unfortunately, a large enemy group was heading his way. As much as he'd love to slaughter them, that would make his mission that much harder.

He quickly dodged into an alleyway

XXX

The SMC Commander watched as the fighters he'd sent dropped of the radar, one by one. He knew that they probably wouldn't make it, but he had hoped they could hold out longer.

To make matters worse, the AA guns planetside weren't down yet, so they couldn't start Evacing their men.

He watched as more fighters blinked off. He knew that he may have to sacrifice himself to save the mission

XXX

**And….. Cliffhanger. I feel like an A**h*** for doing this knowing that I wont finish the chapter for a while, but at least I got this far.**

**Now I know this is pretty confusing, seeing as I haven't posted all the back-story yet, but I will try to explain the best I can.**

**When the wormhole opened up to galaxy 4, the major difference from the other 3 (Halo, The Clone Wars, and Original Trilogy) was that this galaxy didn't have a central command structure. This lead to many of the galactic superpowers (UNSC, Republic, Empire) to a mass territory grab.**

**The TSAB ignored this, until the UNSC and Republic intervened in the Russo-American War (MW2) and allowed the SMC, who had been discovered during the territory grab and quickly entered it themselves.**

**The issue was that Earth/Non-administered world 97 was home to both Nanoha Takamachi and Hayate Yagami, two of the best mages in the TSAB. They TSAB tried to reclaim the world diplomatically, but the SMC refused to let it go.**

**The TSAB stated that the had been uninvolved in the affairs because they were best equipped to defend magical worlds and shouldn't have to worry about every other world. This was proven wrong when General Zero began draining Worlds of their magic in order to power his ultimate weapon. The TSAB was unable to halt his advance, and the Republic and UNSC ultimately destroyed him.**

**So that is why some stuff happened. Hopefully I'll get working on the timeline soon. Also remember, I allow Anonymous commenting, so even those without FF accounts can comment on my stories. Please do. It wont affect my update schedule (I.E. I won't deprive those who don't comment of the story just because of a lack of commenter's), but I really want reviews to judge how I'm doing.**

**Also, I'm sure some people out there will hate me forever for Liking Modern Warfare 2, Halo, and Killzone, but you know what, deal with it. I like a lot of things.**

**Now if you'll excuse me, I have to warn earth of the impending Helgast attack, or something like that. Oh and kill a former CO.**


	3. Chapter 3

**And I am back! Sorry again, but I had a lot of schoolwork to do, and some other stressful things, but I'm going to try and continue.**

**You're all probably wondering what I thought of Killzone 3, Bulletstorm, and Lego Star Wars III. Well Killzone 3 was just awesome. They improved upon the controls from Killzone 2 and had a lot of epic moments.**

**Bulletstorm was EPIC. In addition to being fun to play, the game was the first game I've seen since half-life to take the "You don't just shoot at it" approach to boss battles, and boy did they do it well.**

**Lego Star Wars III was also good, it had a ton of new features and and a very interesting campaign. Though I will say that I think they should have spent more time on a few new features rather than pack a whole bunch of new ones in at once.(I still don't fully understand the new hub system)**

**As for the other big release, Homefront, from what I can see, they went the route of BF bad company 2 and neglected the single player portion in favor of multiplayer, so I probably won't get it for awhile.**

_We now return, to Altered Universe_

"Banshees, twelve o'clock"

Ghost quickly redirected his machine gun towards the aircraft, scrapping one and making the other retreat. Ghost couldn't help but wonder why the 141 had been put on the front lines like this, they were an Special Operations team, not a bloody army unit.

The entire operation made no sense. The SMC obviously was riding the high wave of being unbeatable and assuming they could beat everything. Who uses their best special forces unit to help out a government that has no good reason to be helped.

The TSAB were a bunch of idiots, they decide not to even make contact with earth, but throw a hissy fit when someone else claimed it. Then they go on about how Earth didn't have enough magic on it for them to need to defend it, only to get their asses kicked by Zero.

Ghost didn't like the SMC any better. He didn't even owe them anything. He owed captain Rex and the 501st for saving him, Roach, Archer, and Toad. He owed Spartan B312 for taking down Shepard. He didn't owe the SMC. They hadn't even helped in the Russo-American War, just claimed the planet afterwards.

His thoughts were interrupted by running out of MG ammo. As he started reloading, a Zealot class Elite with an energy sword lunged…

…only to be brought down by a volly of AA-12 shots. Ghost was glad Roach had his back. The Sergeant talked a bit more than he did before, but that still wasn't much.

"You owe me one." Roach stated cheerfully.

"Not for long." Ghost retorted as he finished loading the MG.

XXX

Bitterman looked out onto the street. Seeing a Grunt, he came up behind it and snapped its neck. Quickly climbing up a nearby ladder he saw the Command center. Peeking inside, he saw a Elite General.

Bitterman decided to take extra care in insuring the targets death, upholstering his BFG 10K and taking aim.

The Command staff never knew what hit them, as they were ripped to shreds before they could react. Bitterman quickly got to work setting charges in the room.

Suddenly, there was a yell. Bitterman looked up, to se a Field Marshall staring at him with hatred in its eyes. The Sangheili grabbed its energy sword and charged.

So Bitterman did the only logical thing he could do, detonate the charges prematurely and jump out the window.

The explosion was violent and Bitterman hit the ground hard. He was satisfied that the Elite had not been so lucky, and was laying dead nearby. Bitterman quickly grabbed his energy sword.

A second explosion occurred as one of the AA guns went up in smoke, followed by a lot of weapons fire.

"Hey Buddy" Rhodes called over the comm "I took out the first gun, but I'm pinned down. Get over here!"

Bitterman quickly took off in the direction of the explosion. Rhodes had all the explosive, so if he died, the evacx ships would have to do some fancy maneuvers to get out of the AA guns fire.

XXX

As the last fighter dropped off, the SMC Commander made a decision.

"Set an intercept course for those corvettes" he ordered, before getting on the comm to the _Arthra_.

"Admiral, you're in charge, I'm going to hold the Sobs off as long as I can." he said "Just get our people out of there."

Lindy couldn't even respond before the link was cut and the Carrier's engines lit up, speeding off to face the enemy.

It was shocking how much the SMC was willing to risk to save a couple of SMC mages. Sure, they were pretty much the best mages in the TSAB, but the thousands of dead marines and other naval personnel didn't seem worth it.

Lindy knew Nanoha wouldn't want that. Thousands of families whose sons and daughters wouldn't be returning home. Who had died helpless in insertion pods or in a section of a cruiser unable to affect the battle.

It was amazing how determined the SMC was. They weren't just there to get new worlds, but to save lives. Even at the cost of so many, they got the job done and were willing to sacrifice themselves if necessary.

Lindy was truly glad to have them as allies.

XXX

Bitterman blasted a Jackal full of lead with his shotgun. He had managed to find Rhodes and now was defending him from the oncoming Covenant force. Now that they had gone loud, every alien on the planet wanted a part of them.

Rhodes rushed out "The charges are set, get down!"

The AA gun exploded in a brilliant flash, wreckage falling all over the place. Rhodes grinned at his work, before turning to Bitterman.

"So, what now?" He asked.

The sound of a boosting vehicle caught their attention as a Revenant barreled towards the marines. Bitterman pushed Rhodes out of the way and brought out his rail gun. He fired, taking out both the vehicles occupants.

Bitterman quickly jumped in the divers seat, with Rhodes taking the passengers side. The vehicle quickly boosted in the direction of the SMC trenchline.

XXX

Back in the trenches, the few medics the SMC had were busy keeping the TSAB mages in a stable condition, and the marines numbers were dropping fast.

Thankfully, Captain Mactavish and a small group of snipers were covering the troops from a higher vantage point. Even so, two of the snipers were wounded, and the Covenant force was advancing.

Then, Mactavish saw the flash that indicated the second AA guns demise. He quickly radioed the fleet.

"Command, all hostile anti air targets have been neutralized." he said "I repeat, all anti air targets have been neutralized, proceed with evacuation."

"Roger that Captain." Command confirmed.

Price ordered all units with explosives to use them, and a barrage of rockets and grenades smashed the enemy, stalling their advance.

The dropships quickly arrived, and the marines piled in. From the smoke of the explosion, a single Revenant rushed out.

XXX

Bitterman pushed the hovercraft to its limits, rushing towards the SMC trench. The dropships were already there, and in less than a minute, they were going to pull out.

Unfortunately, the Covenant knew they were piloting the craft, and several wraiths were trying to avenge the Field Marshal that Bitterman slew.

A shot impacted the back of the craft, flipping it. Both marines jumped out and sprinted to the trenches.

All but two dropships had pulled out. Just as the closest one began to leave, the marines reached the trench and jumped, barely making it onboard.

Looking back, they saw the other dropship try to leave, only to be annihilated by an AA wraith.

"that was too close" one corporal said "Please say were not fighting them again sarge!"

"I wish I could Corporal" the sergeant replied "I wish I could."

XXX

The dropships docked with their respective Destroyers, the important mages onboard. Suddenly, a bright flash erupted consumed everything.

When everyone could see, it became apparent that the Carrier had exploded. Before anyone could mourn, a Covenant Assault Carrier jumped into the system, responding to some S.O.S. signal that had been sent.

The remaining 3 members of the task force quickly departed from the system.

XXX

Nanoha felt awful. The last thing she remembered was the SMC medics getting her onto the dropship. What she did know was that wherever she was, it felt much nicer than the cold ground she had slept on the past few days.

As she opened her eyes, the bright white that usually accompanies hospitals met her eyes. As she adjusted to the brightness, someone said

"An good, you're awake."

Looking for the speaker, Nanoha found herself staring at a giant man. Dressed head to toe in power armor, which was mostly green except for the orange Chest piece and red on his collar and some of his shoulders.

"This guy is obviously a Spartan" She thought "But I thought Spartans all wore the same type of suit?"

Nanoha had heard a lot about the Spartans. Though she never saw them in action, she knew much about their abilities. During the Animus rim sieges, Spartans had been constantly deployed to stop Zero from acquiring magic energy on many worlds. In addition, there were a large number of stories from many survivors of Covenant attacks about the Spartans superhuman feats.

But all of those had depicted the Spartans as wearing uniform sets of green armor with gold visors. This mans armor was modified heavily, with different shoulder pads, extra upper body armor, multiple colors, and an orange/red visor to boot.

The Spartan extended his hand. "I'm Jorge." He said.

Nanoha accepted the hand, and Jorge helped her to her feet. A clone trooper walked into the room and saluted.

"Sir" he said "Commander Takamachi's is to report to the bridge now that she is up!"

"Alright" The Spartan replied "I'll escort her there."

The two proceeded through the medical sector. Many wounded soldiers were being treated there, most had been part of the assault on Raxdrin.

Then, the two walked into the advanced medical sector. Upon entering surgery, Nanoha saw a sight that almost stopped her heart.

"Fate-chan!"

Her friend and trusted ally, Fate Harlaown, was laying on an operating bed, as surgeons delicately removed the pink needle shards that were embedded in her back. Nanoha clearly remembered the day just a week ago, that the Skirmishers ambushed her group. The memories nearly brought Nanoha to tears. Then Jorge stepped up.

"It's hard seeing someone you love hurt this bad" he stated with a deep understanding of the agony that Nanoha was going through, before trying to lighten up the situation "Thankfully, none of the shards hit her spine. She'll be up again within the week."

Nanoha was glad, although confused, by the Spartans words. All she had heard that Spartans were cold and distant, but this one seemed friendly and caring, not that it was a bad thing. She could feel that he was not faking it, and really understood the pain she felt.

"Thanks" she whispered.

Jorge just gave her a smile, and they continued onwards. They passed through the Bacta units, where Nanoha found that two of her other subordinates, Erio Mondial and Caro Ru Lushe, were healing in Bacta tanks and hadn't been too badly wounded.

The they came across Subaru, who was still out cold. She had lost her arm protecting Nanoha from a Zealot, but it had already been replaced with a mechanical prosthetic. Thankfully, Subaru was a cyborg, so this would just be a placeholder until more professional replacements could be procured.

Nanoha and Jorge finally got to the elevator and ascended to the command level. Nanoha realized that she didn't actually know where she currently was.

"Where are we exactly?" she asked.

The elevator entered a windowed portion of the shaft, and now it was clear that they were currently on a space station. An Acclamator II Assault Frigate drifted proudly outside the window, with multiple UNSC Frigates, Medical Frigates, and Consular-class starships darting from place to place.

"Welcome to MCS1, the central command base for UNSC/Republic operations in this sector" Jorge stated. "Three weeks ago there was nothing here, now we've got a fully functioning command base."

The elevator stopped at the command level. Jorge led Nanoha to the Command room.

XXX

Hayate Yagami stood alone in the MCS1 Command room, at least physically. The holograms of General Skywalker, Captain Keyes, and General Kenobi were all displayed in front of her.

The Command Centers doors opened, and Jorge and Nanoha walked into the room. Upon seeing Nanoha, Hayate ran up and hugged her tightly.

"It's good to see you're okay." Hayate stated, relived at her friends condition.

"Wish I could say the same for everyone." Nanoha replied sadly, the thought of her wounded team and the men and women who had died rescuing her.

Keyes turned to Jorge. "Thank you Warrant Officer, You're free to leave" He said.

The Spartan II nodded before exiting the Command room. The two mages regained their composure and turned to the holoprojector.

"What's our current situation?" Nanoha asked.

Kenobi grimly replied "Not good, The Covenant has made significant territorial gains, and we lack the ships to take them on in direct combat"

"General Skywalker here," captain Keyes continued " thinks he has an answer."

The three commanders images shifted further back as the profiles of various Covenant ships were displayed in the center.

"As you know," Skywalker began "We can't take the Covenant on in a direct fight. The Number of ships they have, combined with their incredible sizes, makes them nearly impossible to defeat. Add the fact that the UNSC is keeping the majority of its ships to defend Reach, and we're not getting any reinforcements from the Republic, and we've got a grave situation."

"However, I've been reviewing data we collected on the Covenant, and I think I have a strategy that will weaken the Covenant enough for us to force them out of the Animus Rim."

XXX

In the MCS1's main hanger, a Spartan walked up to a gathering group of clones.

"Troopers, listen up" he yelled "Get your gear together, were being deployed!"

"What use are we going to be against one hundred fifty capital ships?" one clone asked pessimistically.

"As much use as you need to be." the Spartan replied.

The clones dispersed to their various posts, the Spartan shook his left arm a bit, still trying to get used to the flashed cloned limb.

James sighed "I hope you know what you're doing Skywalker." he muttered before climbing into his A6 Juggernaut, alongside hundreds of other Republic vehicles.

XXX

**OH MY GOD! THAT TOOK FOREVER. I am so sorry, I really had no idea it had been this long since I updated. I apologize for my lack of vision.**

**Also, two scenes that were originally at the beginning of this chapter were moved to the end of the last chapter, so make sure to look at that (They aren't to important, just Bitterman landing and a short scene with the SMC commander.)**

**This episode finishing means I can finally get to work on Sideways, a series of stories that run parallel to the events of the main fic, but from a more consistent point of view, and not being episodic. I need to get two chapters of that out before I continue with episode 3.**

**Speaking of episodes, I have the next four vaguely planned out. In order, they will be**

**Cruiser Hunters**

**Price of Victory**

**Shattered Memories**

**And**

**Ackerson's Deception**

**Cruiser Hunters and Price of Victory finish up the battle for the Animus Rim, displaying the defeat of the Fleet of Particular Justice, and the Master Chief' s departure on the Pillar of Autumn. Shattered Memories is going to be the Master Chief remembering past battles that happened during the divergent history I've created. Ackerson's Deception, I'm going to keep that one a secret.**

**Finally, I've divided this "Season" up into five "Arks". First is the Reach Ark, which goes from episode 1 to episode 5. Then the Galaxies Ark, which displays what happens in the universe while Chief goes through the events of Halo. Next, the Halo Ark displays the events of First Strike and Halo 2, Memories displays events that precede episode 1, and the 00 Ark goes to the end of Halo 3.**

**Now to upload this and get some sleep.**


End file.
